A few pictures from Central Sulawesi

Hi all,

Since the Photo and Gallery Showcase is one of the most frequently visited areas of Wetpixel I thought I'd post some pictures here rather then in Conservationism (further discussion of this topic could/should be done over there, I know)

In March 07 I dived a site that had been bombed (dynamite fishing) just minutes before....not quite a pleasant site

I had seen some pictures of bombed reefs, but never any that show the effect it has on fish.

picture 1

picture 2

picture 3

picture 4

picture 5

picture 6

Regards,

Bart

PS: despite the fact dynamite fishing is present in this area (as in many areas of SE Asia) I highly recommend this region to everyone (for more pics see post in Trip Reports)

Bart

thanks for sharing.

How successful are these dynamite fishermen in obtaining the fish? From your pixs, there are many fish dead on the bottom, but were there many at the surface for these "fishermen" to pick up? Besides destructive, it seems incredibly low yield.

Bart

 

thanks for sharing.

 

How successful are these dynamite fishermen in obtaining the fish? From your pixs, there are many fish dead on the bottom, but were there many at the surface for these "fishermen" to pick up? Besides destructive, it seems incredibly low yield.

Hi,

When we arrived at the dive site, we saw a fish floating bout 1m below the surface. A few, small boats in the area. Our dive guide knew immediately what had happened.

After we surfaced and got back on the boat, we saw a bigger boat approach the dive site. Apparently that boat has a compressor. Divers go down with home made goggles and nets, breathing through a tube (surface supplied air). All they have to do is pick the fish from the reef.

You can imagine they weren't too happy with our arrival to dive the exact spot they had bombed.

As you can see in my pics, it kills every fish that happens to be near the blast, juveniles and adults, edible and non-edible fish

Scubazoo Images has made an awareness movie: http://www.scubazoo.com/fish_bombing_awareness.html

It is a comlex issue. I'll make a post later on in the Conservationism area.

Best regards,

Bart

Thanks for showing the photos. It's sad that they continue to do this, one bomb kills the whole area and they won't be getting any fish from there for years to come. I was diving with a small group some years ago in Bali when fishermen started to dynamite a neighboring bommie...not a great experience and rather frightening as you feel and hear the shock underwater. You just hope they don't move any closer untill you are out of the water.

Rinjani

very sad images